The National Defense Authorization Act, a law outlining a budget that gets enacted every year so that the Department of Defense has the funds it needs to continue operation through the following year, has within it this time around a little-known provision that could conceivably allow the U.S. to start an endless war anywhere in the world – as long as we think a terrorist is hiding there.

Added to H.R. 1540 (the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012) by Rep. Howard P. McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, Section 1034 is a provision that is clearly aimed at fighting the good fight against terrorism. It would grant the president (and all future presidents) ” the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict ” against terror. What it lacks, however, is any kind of limitations.

The proposal has no geographic boundaries, and it does not impose any safeguards that would prevent the president from using military force within our own country or even against American citizens. Furthermore, it also states that the president has ” the authority to detain belligerents until the termination of hostilities.” What specific hostilities one might ask? Well, any ” forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners .”

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Creek, is the only person who opposed this provision; offering an amendment to strike Section 1034 from the bill altogether. Needless to say, the bill passed the House Armed Services Committee intact.

When the House votes on H.R. 1540, I urge Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and all those opposed to an unchecked authority to initiate unending military action, to strike Section 1034 from this bill.